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Node Reference

PropelAuth's Node library provides all the building blocks you need to add authentication to your Node projects. You should prefer the Express, Next.js App Router, Next.js Pages Router libraries if you are using those frameworks, as they provide a more first-class experience, however, this library can be used in any Node project.

Installation

npm install @propelauth/node

Initialize

initBaseAuth performs a one-time initialization of the library. It will verify your apiKey is correct and fetch the metadata needed to verify access tokens in validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass.

In serverless environments, it's beneficial to skip the fetch, in which case you can pass in manualTokenVerificationMetadata instead of having the library fetch it.

import { initBaseAuth } from '@propelauth/node';

const {
    validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass,
    fetchUserMetadataByUserId,
    // ...
} = initBaseAuth({
    authUrl: "REPLACE_ME",
    apiKey: "REPLACE_ME",
});

Protect API Routes

After initializing auth, you can verify access tokens by passing it in the Authorization header (formatted Bearer TOKEN) to validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass. You can see more information about the User Class here.

const authorizationHeader = // Get the Authorization header from an HTTP request
try {
    const user = await validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass(authorizationHeader)
    console.log(`Got request from user ${user.userId}`);
} catch (err) {
    // You can return a 401, or continue the request knowing it wasn't sent from a logged-in user
    console.log(`Unauthorized request ${err}`);
}
Verifying the access token doesn't require an external request.

Authorization / Organizations

You can also verify which organizations the user is in, and which roles and permissions they have in each organization all through the User Class

Check Org Membership

Verify that the request was made by a valid user and that the user is a member of the specified organization.

const authorizationHeader = // Get the Authorization header from an HTTP request
const orgId = // get the orgId from somewhere, such as the request URL
try {
    const user = await validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass(authorizationHeader)
    const org = user.getOrg(orgId)
    if (!org) {
        // return a 403
    }
    console.log(`Got request from user ${user.userId} for org ${org.orgName}`);
} catch (err) {
    // You can return a 401, or continue the request knowing it wasn't sent from a logged-in user
    console.log(`Unauthorized request ${err}`);
}

Check Org Membership and Role

Similar to checking org membership, but will also verify that the user has a specific Role in the organization.

A user has a Role within an organization. By default, the available roles are Owner, Admin, or Member, but these can be configured. These roles are also hierarchical, so Owner > Admin > Member.

const authorizationHeader = // Get the Authorization header from an HTTP request
const orgId = // get the orgId from somewhere, such as the request URL
try {
    const user = await validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass(authorizationHeader)
    const org = user.getOrg(orgId)
    if (!org || !org.isRole("Admin")) {
        // return a 403
    }
    console.log(`Got request from Admin user ${user.userId} for org ${org.orgName}`);
} catch (err) {
    // You can return a 401, or continue the request knowing it wasn't sent from a logged-in user
    console.log(`Unauthorized request ${err}`);
}

Check Org Membership and Permission

Similar to checking org membership, but will also verify that the user has the specified permission in the organization.

Permissions are arbitrary strings associated with a role. For example, can_view_billing, ProductA::CanCreate, and ReadOnly are all valid permissions. You can create these permissions in the PropelAuth dashboard.

const authorizationHeader = // Get the Authorization header from an HTTP request
const orgId = // get the orgId from somewhere, such as the request URL
try {
    const user = await validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass(authorizationHeader)
    const org = user.getOrg(orgId)
    if (!org || !org.hasPermission("can_view_billing")) {
        // return a 403
    }
    console.log(`User ${user.userId} has 'can_view_billing' permissions for org ${org.orgName}`);
} catch (err) {
    // You can return a 401, or continue the request knowing it wasn't sent from a logged-in user
    console.log(`Unauthorized request ${err}`);
}

User Class

The User Class contains information about the user that made the request. It also contains methods such as getOrgs() and hasPermission().

const userClass = await validateAccessTokenAndGetUserClass(authorizationHeader)
  • Name
    userId
    Type
    string
    Description

    The unique id of the user.

  • Name
    orgIdToOrgMemberInfo
    Type
    {[orgId: string]: OrgMemberInfo}
    Description

    A dictionary mapping from organization id to OrgMemberInfo object.

  • Name
    email
    Type
    string
    Description

    The email of the user.

  • Name
    firstName
    Type
    string
    Description

    The first name of the user.

  • Name
    lastName
    Type
    string
    Description

    The last name of the user.

  • Name
    username
    Type
    string
    Description

    The username of the user.

  • Name
    properties
    Type
    {[key: string]: unknown}
    Description

    A dictionary of custom properties associated with the user.

  • Name
    loginMethod
    Type
    object
    Description

    The method the user used to log in. Returns the Login Method Property.

  • Name
    activeOrgId
    Type
    string | undefined
    Description

    Returns the ID of the Active Org, if the user has an Active Org set.

  • Name
    legacyUserId
    Type
    string
    Description

    If the user was migrated using our Migration API, this will be the id of the user in the legacy system.

  • Name
    impersonatorUserId
    Type
    string
    Description

    If the user is being impersonated, this is id of the user that impersonated them.

  • Name
    getActiveOrg()
    Type
    fn() -> OrgMemberInfo
    Description

    Returns the OrgMemberInfo of the Active Org.

  • Name
    getOrg()
    Type
    fn(orgId: string) -> OrgMemberInfo
    Description

    A method to retrieve OrgMemberInfo of the provided org. Returns undefined if user does not belong to org.

  • Name
    getOrgByName()
    Type
    fn(orgName: string) -> string
    Description

    A method to retrieve the OrgMemberInfo of an org by name. Returns undefined if user does not belong to the provided org.

  • Name
    getUserProperty()
    Type
    fn(key: string)
    Description

    A method to retrieve the value of the provided property for the user. Returns undefined if no value is set.

  • Name
    getOrgs()
    Type
    fn() -> OrgMemberInfo[]
    Description

    A method to retrieve an array of each org the user belongs to.

  • Name
    isImpersonating()
    Type
    fn() -> boolean
    Description

    A method to check if the user is being impersonated.

  • Name
    isRole()
    Type
    fn(orgId: string, role: string) -> boolean
    Description

    A method to check if the user is the provided role in the provided org.

  • Name
    isAtLeastRole()
    Type
    fn(orgId: string, role: string) -> boolean
    Description

    A method to check if the user is at least the provided role in the provided org.

  • Name
    hasPermission()
    Type
    fn(orgId: string, permission: string) -> boolean
    Description

    A method to check if the user has the provided permission in the provided org.

  • Name
    hasAllPermissions()
    Type
    fn(orgId: string, permission: string[]) -> boolean
    Description

    A method to check if the user has all the provided permissions in the provided org.

OrgMemberInfo

The OrgMemberInfo object contains information about the user's membership in an organization.

  • Name
    orgId
    Type
    string
    Description

    The unique id of the organization.

  • Name
    orgName
    Type
    string
    Description

    The name of the organization.

  • Name
    orgMetadata
    Type
    object
    Description

    The metadata associated with the organization.

  • Name
    urlSafeOrgName
    Type
    string
    Description

    The URL-safe name of the organization.

  • Name
    userAssignedRole
    Type
    string
    Description

    The role of the user in the organization.

  • Name
    userInheritedRolesPlusCurrentRole
    Type
    string[]
    Description

    The role of the user within this organization plus each inherited role.

  • Name
    userPermissions
    Type
    string[]
    Description

    A list of permissions the user has in the organization, based on their role.

  • Name
    isRole
    Type
    fn(role: string) -> boolean
    Description

    A function that returns true if the user has the specified role in the organization.

  • Name
    isAtLeastRole
    Type
    fn(role: string) -> boolean
    Description

    A function that returns true if the user has at least the specified role in the organization.

  • Name
    hasPermission
    Type
    fn(permission: string) -> boolean
    Description

    A function that returns true if the user has the specified permission in the organization.

  • Name
    hasAllPermissions
    Type
    fn(permissions: string[]) -> boolean
    Description

    A function that returns true if the user has all of the specified permissions in the organization.

  • Name
    orgRoleStructure
    Type
    string
    Description

    The role structure set for your project. See multi roles per user for more information.

  • Name
    userAssignedAdditionalRoles
    Type
    string[]
    Description

    If using multiple roles per user, returns an array of roles that the user belongs to. Excludes the userAssignedRole.

Calling Backend APIs

You can also use the library to call the PropelAuth APIs directly, allowing you to fetch users, create orgs, and a lot more.

const auth = initAuth({
    authUrl: 'REPLACE_ME',
    apiKey: 'REPLACE_ME',
})

const magicLink = await auth.createMagicLink({
    email: 'user@customer.com',
})

See the API Reference for more information.